Ryanair attendant announces destination as “occupied Palestine” instead of ‘Israel’
Occupied Palestine (QNN)- Irish airline Ryanair apologized for an “innocent mistake” after a flight attendant on the flight from Italy to ‘Israel’ announced the destination as “occupied Palestine.”
“All passengers are requested to return to their seats as the plane is about to land in Tel-Aviv in occupied Palestine,” the attendant said on the 10 June flight, repeating the sentence several times in English and Italian, according to Israeli news channel i24NEWS.
The announcement of the destination led to several complaints from passengers and the row gained momentum after the flight.
Some Israeli media commentators called for Israelis to boycott the airline if an apology was not made.
Ryanair said it regrets the incident.
“A junior crew member on this flight from Bologna to Tel Aviv [10 June] made a routine descent PA mistakenly saying ‘Palestine’ instead of ‘Tel Aviv,'” the airline said.
“This was an innocent mistake with no intent and was immediately corrected and apologized for by the senior crew member on board,” the company said.
The chief executive of Ryanair Eddie Wilson also told the Simon Wiesenthal Center it was an “innocent mistake”.
Wilson said that he had written to the Israeli ambassador in Ireland, adding that ‘Israel’ was “an important partner” for Ryanair. Wilson added that Ryanair was “100% satisfied that this was an innocent mistake with no political overtones or intent”.
After the announcement, several passengers complained, and “continued to be abusive” even after the cabin crew apologized, he said, adding the police had to be called to meet the aircraft when it landed as a result.
This is not the first time that airlines have run into hot water in the region.
In 2002, arguments broke out between passengers and crew on an Air France flight from Paris to Tel Aviv after a pilot described the final destination as “Israel-Palestine”.
In 2003, an Alitalia pilot said “Welcome to Palestine” as he landed in Tel Aviv, leading to strong reactions amongst passengers. The airline sent an apology to the Israeli ambassador to Italy, and said the pilot would no longer fly to ‘Israel’.
